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ML Strokes

Collaborators

This project was done in collaboration with the Ministry of Education.

Overview

ML Strokes (习字乐) is a prototype to help students write proper Chinese characters and able to associate Chinese characters with corresponding prompts.

Background

The Curriculum Planning and Development Division (CPDD) from the Ministry of Education (MOE) approached CUTE Center to design and develop a product that helps lower primary school students learn Chinese character writing. The division is keen to explore and utilize AR (Augmented Reality) technology. Mr. Wang, echoing collective concerns from primary school teachers, finds that students are unable to effectively recall learnt characters and hence cannot write the characters properly. After a series of pilot testing, the use of machine learning is explored to aid teachers in their classroom teachings.

Key Problem(s)

Students find it difficult to commit Chinese characters to memory and reproduce the strokes accordingly during academic reviews. They are also fixated on emulating the model character style rather than appreciating the stroke construction of the character.

In an actual classroom context, there are too many students to handle in a class to ensure proper writing skills, and teachers constantly have to race against time to keep up with the planned syllabus and to meet intended learning outcomes. Hence, teachers usually have to skim through students' handwriting and catch only the more obvious mistakes made.

Objective

The aim of the project is to allow students to be able to write proper Chinese characters, and provide teachers an interactive platform that gives proper real-time feedback of the students' handwriting during lessons.